At 04:33 PM 9/8/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi Tweets,
>
>Regarding water-to-sucrose ratios in hummerfeeders, Peggi Rodgers wrote:
>
>>It's always the same 4 to 1. It really shouldn't be any stronger or it will
>>damage their kidneys. They'll simply feed more frequently during colder
>>weather.
>
and Michael wrote:
>Well, actually, the range of the water-sucrose ratio in nature ranges from
>3-to-1 to 5-to-1 depending on the flower species and a couple of other
>things; 4-to-1 is simply the mid-range.

This is new information to me - all my sources say 4 to 1 with no variation.
I was told that kidney damage could occur from boiling the syrup, thereby
causing the sugar portion of the ratio to increase due to the evaporation of
some water. Is it possible that the difference is due to our sugar being
processed rather than the natural nectar the birds would get via flowers?

Peggi
Ben & Peggi Rodgers
Aptos, CA (near Santa Cruz 122 W, 37 N)
USA
woodduck at cruzio.com
http://www2.cruzio.com/~woodduck/


"A bird does not sing because it has an answer,
It sings because it has a song"